Ed and Brian were hanging out at the local BMW motorcycle shop one Saturday morning back in 2006, drinking the free coffee and shooting the breeze with other riders. The excess of caffeine spawned what both thought was a fine idea and that was to institutionalize a racing team that actually didn't do any real racing.

Ed and Brian after surviving the 2-Day BMW Off-Road School in Greer, SCAlthough both men were into long-distance sport touring and going on limited "grand adventures", neither claimed to have the proper cahonies (or training for that matter) necessary to live the fast life on or off the track. Not to be deterred by age, physical build or other inadequacies, the next best thing was to pretend and pretend is what they did.

The Name and the T-shirt

Moments later, Brian, the admittedly older one (wiser?) surprised Ed by quickly coming up with the name Inadequate-Racing and well, the rest is history as they say. Within hours, the domain name was purchased and within the first year, T-shirts were actually designed, printed and a few sold to anxious customers. Actually, Ed and Brian just begged people to buy them so they wouldn't have to keep carrying them between weekend rides and rallies.

The obligatory chest shot showing the front of the original T-Shirt

Racers Jamie James and Scott Carpenter like the T-shirt... on ElizabethWith a proper T-shirt available, next came the celebrity endorsements - sort of. Bonus points are available for anyone who correctly decodes the inadequately translated German on the back of the shirt.

Our inadequate use of a real model - Thanks Ken!Then there was the short-lived modeling contract with Ken Insley; fellow BMW GS rider and yes, a real model. Ed convinced him to buy a shirt and then he actually wore it during a track day. Cool!

With all the proper inadequacies in mind, Ed and Brian decided to hold their own motorcycle rally in the East-Central mountains of West Virginia. Why there? Why not? Nobody ever complains about riding there!

The Rally and the Stickers

The first annual(?) Inadequate Rally was held at the Brazen Head Inn - Mingo, WV from Sept. 25 - 28, 2008. Hoards of riders signed up - well not actually. Five brave soles attended the inadequately dry rally (that means rainy). Ed and his bride Robin were already in West Virginia on their bikes, so they didn't have an excuse. Brian and his bride Elizabeth braved the weather and rode in from Raleigh, NC (he didn't want to miss his own rally!) and buddy Steve got lost outside of Fayetteville, NC and simply showed up. A grand time was had by all even with the soggy conditions. Riders in attendence were all rewarded by Brian with a souvenir IR (Inadequate-Racing) oval Euro-style sticker!

The cool IR Euro sticker.. Want one?Nearly a year went by and it was time to try again (someone told Ed and Brian that sometimes you can get over your inadequacies by trying harder - or maybe it's just a matter of sucking other people in with you). The 2nd annual(?) Inadequate Rally was scheduled for Oct. 8 - 11, 2009 - once again at the Brazen Head Inn. Will and Jill (the proprieters) told their friends and neighbors that those inadequate motorcycle guys were coming back. Maybe that was some sort of warning - nobody is sure.

Rain only slightly dampened the spirits of those that traveled back for the great riding and evening festivities in 2009. Ed returned with Robin, Steve brought his bride Belva, Ken came from Tennessee, Marc endured hours of off-road abuse coming from Raleigh (after Ed's GPS apparently forgot what pavement was) and honorary IR team members Keith and Mary Ann joined us from Ft. Ashby, WV. Brian and Elizabeth certainly showed up again and as usual made everyone take home yet another souvenir IR sticker! They're apparently collectable.

And then there was the website

So with a T-shirt, two inadequate rallies and a great sticker design under their belts, it was finally time for a website. The IR sticker mentions the URL, so why not? Besides, Go Daddy's Danica Patrick has been bugging us for the domain name. Apparently she doesn't think her team's name is cool enough or something. Just kidding Danica! We love you! No, we really do love you - seriously.

This website is aimed at becoming a friendly community page for fellow riders, friends and supporters of Inadequate Racing. It will most certainly evolve over time. Yes, we might even try to sell something here to help pay the bills.

For now, it will mainly serve as a simple discussion forum for the group. You'll need to request a login account* via email and once assigned, use it to login to post or reply. Announcements, ride tales, photos and stories of IR sticker sightings are all welcome here. Brian and Ed reserve the right to edit all content - especially if it's not inadequate enough.

* Sorry. I'd hoped that this wouldn't be such a manual process to assign logins and indeed Squarespace does sell an upgraded "Community" package for ONLY $50/ month that allows users to sign up for and manage their own accounts.

The existing Yahoo Group will remain active as a way to email (not spam) all inadequate racers individually or as a group. You are encouraged to sign up for the group: inadequate_racing.

Questions and comments may be emailed to us using the handy Contact Me form on the left side of this web page or you may send emails directly to inadequateracing at gmail.com.